1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing system including a data generating device for generating data and a data outputting device connected to the aforementioned device through a transferring section for outputting data, a data generating device and a data outputting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are devices and systems which generate, process and output data, wherein plural processes for generating data to outputting data are executed through a plurality of data processing sections or a plurality of devices. Further, some of these devices or systems are configured such that at least sections of the respective processes are executed by computers, programs enabling the computers to execute the processes are distributed among the plurality of data processing sections or devices and stored in their respective storage devices, and these programs are individually updated (version-updated). An example of such a data processing system is a print-data processing system constituted by a printer driver and a printer. The purposes of version updating are addition of new functions after the releases of programs, enhancement of functions, enhancement of performance, repairs of malfunctions found after release.
A first point to be noted in updating the versions is that, when updating of the versions involves changes in the functions supported by the respective data processing sections, the supported functions must be compatible throughout the processes for generating data to for outputting data. If functions required for data processing are not supported at some processes or the version compatibility is lost due to updating of the versions, this may make it impossible to normally output data. Regarding this, there is known a method in which a printer driver acquires the version of a control program for a printer device which outputs data, and only functions supported by both the printer driver and the printer control program are displayed on a user interface of the printer driver while functions which are not supported by them are not displayed on the user interface (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 2003-216375).
Further, there is known a method in which a printer driver and a printer include a common color module and they are brought into synchronization with each other such that the versions of their programs are compatible (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 2004-126965).
When programs are version-updated in the aforementioned data processing system, in the case where the respective processes for generating, processing and outputting data are to be successively executed in the system, the version updating may be performed after all the data processing in the system has been completed. Thereafter, data is generated and processed by the version-updated programs with maintained compatibility. However, there are aspects where data is accumulated once in the system and the accumulated data is output when necessary, depending on the system or data.
For example, in an aspect, in the case where the data processing system is constituted by the aforementioned printer driver and the printer, print data is accumulated in the printer and the accumulated data is output when a command is newly generated.
In such a system, if the programs are version-updated when data is still accumulated, the programs are version-updated halfway through the processes for generating to outputting the aforementioned data and therefore the version compatibility among the programs for processing data can not be maintained, thus preventing data from being normally output. Conventionally, such inconvenience has been avoided by human care. Namely, operational contrivances have been utilized as follows. For example, a person in charge of program-version-updating (for example, a field engineer or a system administrator) provides a notification to a user of the system in a suitable spare moment, then the user who received the notification outputs accumulated data during this moment and then the person in charge of version-updating conducts version-updating after the accumulated data in the system is removed. However, if the number of devices connected to a network increases with advancing popularization of the network, this will increase the difficulty of concurrently updating the versions and also increase the frequency of version updating, thus increasing the burden of the administration. There is a need for systems capable of treating data such that inconvenience caused by version updating can be avoided, by taking account of accumulated data.